Association between quality of life in parents and components of asthma control in children

Describe the association between parents' quality of life and the two components of asthma control in children: impairment and risk.

Cross-sectional study with children between 4 and 14 years of age with active asthma recruited at primary care centers in Spain. Asthma control was assessed according to the Third National Asthma Expert Panel Report, classifying "impairment" in three levels (well-controlled asthma, partially controlled, and poorly controlled), and "risk" as high or low. The parents' quality of life was evaluated using the specific Family Impact of Childhood Bronchial Asthma Questionnaire instrument (IFABI-R). The association between asthma control and the parents' quality of life was analyzed using multivariate regression models adjusted for other social and family variables.

Data from 408 children were analyzed. The parents' quality of life was affected in the partially controlled asthma group when compared with well-controlled asthma, as showed by an increase in IFABI-R scores in all dimensions: functional 17.2% (p < 0.001), emotional 10.4% (p = 0.021), and socio-occupational 6.8% (p = 0.056). The differences were higher in poorly controlled asthma compared with well-controlled asthma: functional 24.3% (p = 0.001), emotional 18.9% (p = 0.008), and socio-occupational 11.5% (p = 0.036). The "risk" component was independently associated with the parents' quality of life. Of all the elements used to assess the control, the only one independently associated with the parents' quality of life was recurrent asthma crisis.

In asthma control, both "impairment" and "risk" in children are gradually associated with the parents' quality of life. The global assessment of the control surpasses the importance of each individual element used in this assessment.